Changing of the guard
by Someguy96
Summary: As Dick Grayson prepares to replace Bruce Wayne as Batman we follow him on his last case as Nightwing. A case that could have drastic ramifications for the country and that requires the help of the entire clan. This is a major AU and shows the League and the Clan as separate groups. Warning: very mature themes later on.
1. Chapter 1

**This is an AU story where the Bat Family and the League are separate.**

**Disclaimer: I do no own anything in this story except my own oc all other characters and places are the property of DC Comics**

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It was an unnaturally cold day in Gotham for the middle of August. Bruce Wayne was looking out at the sprawling metropolis that was the city he had sworn to defend since he was eight years old. He looked at his watch. It was getting on 8'o'clock and he had just finished an excruciatingly long board meeting on the newest combined project between Star Labs and Wayne Tech. Bruce was waiting for his guest before he could head home to his wife and begin the second meeting he that day.

The clock struck 8:02 and sure enough fashionably late as always, in strode Oliver Queen the CEO of Queen industries and its affiliate Star Labs.

'Bruce. How you been?' he questioned as he grasped Bruce's hand firmly.

Bruce replied politely and both men sat down to discuss some basic details concerning the joint project.

Fifteen minutes later they both shook hands and left. Bruce made sure to press the U.S.B key firmly into Queen's hand during the last handshake. Although the League never dared to step foot in Gotham, the Dark Knight knew that the government favored Justice League had a great number of resources at their disposal so he took extra precautions when he was in public.

As Bruce was driven home by his chauffeur he began to reflect on the case that was ahead. He knew this case would be difficult but he was looking forward to see his adopted family again. He reached the house twenty minutes later. As soon as went inside he made his way towards the sitting room where he knew his wife and daughter would be. As he entered the sitting room he saw Selina holding his 7 month old daughter Helena in her arms.

He immediately went over to them and placed a quick kiss on his wife's lips and took his daughter into his arms. He cooed at his daughter who giggled at his affection.

'So how was your day?' Bruce questioned.

'Interesting, Damien got annoyed at around half four due to the fact that you were supposed to train him earlier, so I offered to do it due to the fact that you have never been able to beat me and I wanted to lose some of this baby weight.'

'How did he take it?'

'He felt offended until I showed him the phone I had lifted off him 5 minutes earlier without him even realising.'

'I guess that showed him' he smirked. 'So is the family here yet' he asked more solemnly.

'Yeah they're waiting in the cave for you'.

'I don't suppose there is any chance that you'll wait here with Helena until the meeting is over.'

'Not a chance' she smirked as she took Helena out of his arms.

They proceeded to make idle conversation until they reached the grandfather clock. Bruce swung it open and they took the elevator down to the cave. When they reached the cave they saw that the entire family was already gathered. There was Batwoman (Kate Kane), Black Bat (Cassandra Cain), Red Hood (Jason Todd), Red Robin (Tim Drake), Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Spoiler (Stephanie Brown), Robin (Damien Wayne) and of course Nightwing (Dick Grayson).

'I'm glad to see that you're all here" Bruce said as he addressed them. 'I have a very big case that is going to require the help of each and every one of you'.

He walked over to the large computer that was sitting in the middle of the cave. He brought up the holographic display and it showed a picture of various men and women most of whom have some sort of connection to organised crime.

'As you are all well aware of, for the pat number of years I have begun to suspect an increase in the co-operation between different mob families throughout the U.S. However due to the resurgent number of super villains and the formation and decimation of the Light, I have not been fully focusing on it.

However four nights ago I busted a major drug gang and their supplier. While I was combing the leader's office for evidence I found a recording that not only confirmed my suspicions but suggests that many of these organisations are not only co-operating with each other but working together under one person'.

He then walked over to the monitor and brought up a sound file.

'The voice on the other end was scrambled but after several painstaking hours Nightwing managed to unscramble it'.

The Dark Knight hit play and immediately a female voice boomed from the speakers.

"'Look I'm not asking you to deviate from your current organisation I'm asking you to just to import items other than drugs into the city. If you do not comply I have one or two options to choose from. I can have your operation permanently removed from that cess-pool you call a city or Ii can make you a very rich man and ensure you never have to deal with the law again. I trust you will take this into consideration."'

The recording ended with that last statement. Everyone in the room bar Batman and Nightwing stood their shocked as they all recognized that voice.

'Batman' began Batgirl. "Was that who I think it was?"

'Yes' the Dark Knight replied. He brought up an image of a middle aged black-haired woman. 'This, as you all know is Abigail Stanley who is in pole position to become the first female president of the United States of America and now our primary suspect as leader of this consolidate of major criminal organisations spanning across the country'.

'So were going to take her down?' questioned Hood.

'No, she's positioned herself masterly so we need to take out her support structures first in order to reach her. You will find all the information I have collected on her so far in the case file I have created on the server.

The first thing we need to do is target her connections to the various mobs. Now on her campaign team there are eight "political advisers" who, under intense review warrant investigation. These people are who I suspect are the representatives of eight different major crime families. Now each of these families are based in the U.S so what I want you to do is to go to each city and find proof of a connection between these people and the crime families.

Now these people are going to be in their respective cities for the next ten days before permanently joining the campaign trail. You have until then to find your evidence because after that it will be almost impossible to prosecute.

I have already given this information to Green Arrow and he has assured me that he will deal with it in Star City.

Now here's where I want you to go. Batwoman I'm sending you to Coast City, Batgirl you're going to Central City, Red Robin to Metropolis, Spoiler shall be travelling Fawcett City, Black Bat and Red Hood shall journey to New York'.

'I opted to send you two to New York due to the fact that there is no prominent member of the League there and you will be able to work faster.' He said as Black Bat and Red Hood were about to object.

'Finally Robin and I will stay here in Gotham while Nightwing stays in Blüdhaven. Selina will provide you with the intelligence you need from here. You all should be leaving by tomorrow and I will assist you if you want in regards to your cover stories'.

'So what are you not telling us?' Red Robin asked just before everyone stated to leave.

'What makes you say that?' Bruce replied.

'One, you put all that together in a couple of days which even for you is impressive, secondly lately you seem to be more brutal and efficient in dealing with criminals for the last four months.'

Everyone in the room looked questioningly at Bruce except Selina who offered him a reassuring smile. He turned back to his extended family and began to explain.

'As you all know when I started this quest I made a vow that no child shall ever suffer the loss of their parents like I did and that includes my own child. Also I took on protégés in order to help expand my crusade and to replace me if I fall.

So I tested myself to see if I would still be able to continue to be Batman and the results surprise me to say the least. My reaction times have dropped by almost .1% and although it may not seem a lot it signifies my bodies decline and I couldn't put my daughter through that if I fell in the line of fire. So after this case I'm going to be passing on the mantle of Batman'.

The entire family stood their shocked at the revelation as they began to comprehend the fact that Bruce Wayne will no longer be Batman.

'So whose going to replace you, father?' Damien questioned although everyone in the room knew the answer to that question.

'Nightwing' was the reply he got for the question.

After that many people began to question Bruce and Dick about the subject and it wasn't until an hour later that the meeting finally ended. Kate, Jason and Cassandra went on patrol while Barbara went home. Tim disappeared of upstairs with his girlfriend Stephanie and Selina went up to put Helena to bed.

There was just Dick and Bruce in the cave now. There was a comfortable silence between them until Bruce excused himself upstairs. That just left Nightwing standing in the cave looking around at everything that was soon to be his. His eyes landed on the cowl and symbol he would soon adorn and he still wondered how he felt about that thought.

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**I know the first chapter didn't have a lot of Nightwing in it but this is very important for later chapters.**

**Please read and review**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright so here's chapter 2 of the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, it is the property of DC Comics**

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It had been a five days since Bruce had set them on this case, his last case before he retired and gave the cowl of the bat to Dick. However, right now Dick's attention was solely focused on the case at hand. Nightwing was racing across the rooftops of Blüdhaven following a black sedan that contained the person Nightwing was stalking.

His name was Charles Brummell and he was a senior political advisor to Abigail Stanley. Apparently he was in town speaking to their party's branch here but Nightwing knew better. However the only problem Nightwing was having has been the fact that there were no indications of him meeting with any person related to the mob.

He had tapped all his phones and put a subcutaneous micro-tracker in him so he could know his position at all times. Furthermore he had been watching him like a hawk for the past few days, only being able to sleep when he sleeps.

Nightwing continued to follow the sedan as it drove into Brummell's motel. Nightwing took out his infrared goggles and prepared to sit and watch for another night. He had managed to put a small microphone onto Brummell's clothes but he didn't have time to scope out his room fully as this was only his second time staying in it.

However Nightwing immediately came alert as he saw a second heat signature enter the room. They came closer to each other and Nightwing immediately turned up the volume of the microphone. Unfortunately the only noise that greeted his ears was the sound of clothes being pulled of and sensual groans. He immediately set the microphone to mute but he kept the recording going in order to find out who this person was.

By the looks of the heat signatures those two were going to be there for a while. Nightwing considered getting some sleep but due to the nature of the encounter he decided to update the case notes and scout the area. He quickly updated the case notes and then he placed a miniature camera on the place from where he was standing. He set it to infrared and made sure the feed was running to his wrist computer before he jumped of the roof he was situated in.

Nightwing began to comb the surrounding areas for anything suspicious. It was while he was doing this did he hear it. The familiar scream of someone in trouble and who was crying out for help. He quickly ran to source of the scream. He found the trouble in an alleyway, where five young men armed with knives and baseball bats were encroaching on a young woman with malicious intent in their eyes.

He heard the person nearest to woman talking as he approached the scene. 'We told you not to scream you little bitch' he spat as he grew nearer and nearer to the woman. 'And now you're going to pay'.

It was at that moment that Nightwing entered the scene. He swung from the rooftop and onto the nearest attacker taking him down. He quickly swiped the second man's legs from underneath him. The youth fell to ground with a thud. Nightwing quickly sprang up and delivered a punch to the head of the youth.

It was at that moment that the third man stabbed at Nightwing with his knife but the hero caught his wrist stopping him. Unfortunately the fourth youth decided this would be the opportune time to swing his bat at Nightwing. The former boy wonder though was expecting this and he threw the youth with the knife at the oncoming man.

He turned around to deal with the leader but to Nightwing's surprise he was holding his victim as a human shield with a gun pointed to her head. He looked desperate and Nightwing knew he had to be careful. As they both stood there waiting for the other to move a powerful voice was heard in the air.

'_Dnib lla eht sguht htiw epor'_.

Suddenly all the potential attackers including the ones Nightwing had already taken were bound with rope. Nightwing immediately recognised the spell and sure enough he looked up and saw the magician who had cast it floating down to the ground. The woman immediately ran to the leaguer as she viewed them as her saviour and gave Nightwing no second thought. Nightwing took this as his cue to leave.

He climbed silently to the rooftop as the League member comforted the traumatised woman. Nightwing didn't take off immediately as he needed to talk to them. As soon as the woman calmed down the Leaguer looked around the rooftops and spotted Nightwing glaring at her. She immediately sent the woman off and levitated herself to the roof.

As she touched down on the roof Nightwing saw her, Zatanna Zatara, member of the Justice League for three years now, daughter of Giovanni Zatara the current Doctor Fate and Dick Grayson's on and off again girlfriend although she was unaware of his alter-ego. To be telling the truth Nightwing found it hard to lie to her all the time but he knew that if she knew the truth their relationship would probably be irrevocably damaged like Green Arrow and Black Canary.

She looked at him curiously as he was lost in thought but he snapped out of it when she took a step towards him.

'I told you stay out of my city' he snapped harshly. Her expression changed to that of anger.

'Well nice to see you again to' she quipped back.

The last time Nightwing had seen Zatanna officially was in the Hall of Justice after the Light had been defeated and the League asked Nightwing and Batman to join the Justice League. Needless to say the Dark Knight refused the offer on the grounds that the League was too much under the governments thumb. After that he warned the League to stay out of their cities and left with Nightwing following.

After that the relations between the two organisations had become even colder than they already were but the League stayed out of the clan's cities until now. 'I'll ask you again, what are you doing in my city?'

'Newsflash, bird boy this isn't your city'

'The League got some info Bats were operating outside your normal areas so we decided to come and see what's up.'

Although Nightwing's face expressed no emotion or reaction inside his mind the wheels were turning as he tried to figure out how the League knew about the Clan's deployment and how to deal with this situation that has presented itself to him.

'I've no idea what you're talking about Zatanna' he stated flatly as he began to walk away. He was about to grapple his grabble hook when he retorted back.

'Just some friendly advice, if you want to get information out of someone you're going have to better than that'.

'I was getting to that' she replied.

There was something in the tone of her voice that screamed at Nightwing to get of the roof as fast as he could. This was a command that Nightwing was happy to oblige but before he could move another he step Zatanna recited her spell.

'_T'nod evom_'

Nightwing was frozen in place. He tried to struggle but the spell was too strong but he did find he could move his head a little bit. Zatanna started to walk towards the frozen Nightwing. She had a little smug smile on her face as she saw the vigilante struggle to free himself.

'Don't bother struggling, you can't move until I realise you from the spell. Now _llet em yhw eht stab era gnikorw tou fo mahtaG'. _

Nightwing was prepared for this type of questioning. During his tenure as Robin, Batman taught him how to tell the truth without actually letting your opponent garner any information. Nightwing now hoped all that training paid off.

'The reason the Bats are now operating outside of Gotham is because of information that has recently come to our attention that may implement a certain person in illicit activities that stretch beyond the boundaries set by individual states and countries and will not not have far reaching consequences for not just the security and stability of the nation we currently operate and reside in but for the livelihood of those men and woman who are not not directly or indirectly involved'.

Nightwing inwardly smirked as he saw that his speech had the desired effect on the sorceress who was not prepared for such a speech. Nightwing looked at her face which had gone from shock to confusion to anger in about ten seconds. Nightwing felt the spell around his body loosen as the magician briefly lost her focus.

This fact gave Nightwing an idea on how to get out of this situation. Zatanna meanwhile was still moving in closer to Nightwing.

'Now, let's try that aga-'

Her words were cut off by Nightwing pressing his lips to hers. She was, for the second time that night completely shocked by Nightwing's actions. She was in complete shock for the couple of moments and this was the do or die moment for Nightwing's plan. Luckily however Zatanna began return the kiss.

It took Nightwing a moment to realise he was free as he was too caught up in the kiss. He quickly pushed Zatanna back and as fast as he could he jumped of the roof and disappeared into the night. It took a moment to realise what happened and to realise she had been played. She scanned the area for any sign of the masked hero but soon realised the search was in vain.

She began to walk back to the zeta-tube feeling really pissed off at how the situation had played out. Although she had to admit, as she touched her lips that it was a good kiss. Meanwhile Nightwing was sitting in the shadows quickly typing up an urgent message to the rest of the clan explaining that the League knew they were out of Gotham. He then pulled up the video feed of his mark and was pleased to see that the two occupants of the room haven't deviated from the room or their activities. Nightwing then made his way back to the hotel and this time making sure that he was not followed.

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**Alright please read and review if you have any constructive criticism or opinions on the story so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ok here's chapter 3 of my story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, it is the property of DC Comics**

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'Zatanna two-five'

Black Canary looked up from the monitor screen at the new arrival to the Watchtower. She watched as the younger woman strode purposely into the monitor center. From the look on her face though Black Canary could see that the encounter she had didn't go as planned.

'I take it that it didn't go well'

'That's an understatement'

'Really? What happened?' the older woman asked.

'Well after a while of searching I found Nightwing in alley beating up some thugs who appeared to be harassing some woman. The last thug pulled a gun on him so I felt the need to intervene. I quickly ended the situation and reassured the woman. By this time Nightwing had moved to the rooftops. I followed him and bound him in a spell. This is the point where thing go downhill. He managed to avoid answering my questions directly even under magic and when I tried again he managed to distract me and break free from the spell and escape'.

Black Canary finished typing up Zatanna's account of the incident and submitted it to the mainframe.

'I think it's safe to assume that the other Bats will now be on the lookout for us so unless we're extremely lucky we won't find them'.

'So?' Zatanna questions, 'what do we do now?'

'Well there's a League meeting on in a half hour to discuss the Bats and their latest activities, so why don't we get some coffee until then'.

'I'll be open to that.'

The two Leaguers walked down the long corridors making idle chatter along the way. They reached the cafeteria and grabbed their coffee and continued to talk. Most of the talk centred on the Team. They had being progressing well and the next generation were adjusting well to the whole hero thing.

'There's something that's been bothering me Zatanna' Dinah began as she put down her cup.

'Oh yeah, what's that?' the younger woman questioned.

'Well I know you pretty well and I've trained you, so I know that it would take a lot in order to break your concentration, so the question I'm asking is how did he distract you?'

Zatanna put down her cup and looked a bit flustered at the thought of the memory.

'He kissed me' she stated flatly.

Black Canary looked at her shocked not even sure she heard that right. When she looked back at the young sorceress for confirmation and she only nodded in response.

'He kissed you? She asked in disbelief. 'Did you kiss him back? How did it feel? How did you let it happen?'

Fortunately Black Canary's barrage of questions was interrupted by an announcement over the intercom saying the meeting will soon begin. The two heroines got up and Black Canary shot the magician a look that said that the discussion was not over. Zatanna sighed and put down her coffee. She followed Canary out of the cafeteria and went to the meeting wondering what a certain bird was up to as well.

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'Thank god for coffee' was Nightwing's only thought as he downed his fourth cup in row. He has only slept for four hours in the last two days and that meeting with Zatanna a few hours ago had exhausted him mentally. He really needed a good sleep but he couldn't afford right now.

He been researching the late night visitor to Brummell's hotel room and after excruciatingly long hours of researching who exactly that person was and he finally found a hit. Apparently she was and high ranking associate of the mob in Blüdhaven. He couldn't find her real name as she had many aliases but he did find the location of the brothel she worked for.

Apparently a consulting firm in the northern part of the city was operating as a front for the brothel. It was located on the thirtieth floor of a fifty floor building. Nightwing hacked the city's records and found the blueprints for the building. He formulated a plan of action and decided that it was high time for some sleep as it would be foolish to underestimate the people in the building.

The next night he was dressed in civilian clothes as he calmly took the elevator to the up to floor above the consulting firm. He strode purposely to the bathroom and locked himself into a stall. He quickly pulled of his clothes to reveal his costume underneath. He then got out of the stall and climbed into an air vent in the wall.

It was a tight fit and Nightwing had to keep try and remember some of the techniques the contortionist at Haly's Circus taught him. He crawled his way down one floor before he got to the level he needed. He quietly crawled around the ventilation system for anything that would look like an office.

However, all he found was the front desk and various bedrooms. He was about seriously considering getting out of the vent and walking around when he came across it. It was a room that was very different than the others. It had a bed but it also had a desk with a computer on it and an office chair that looked well maintained. It was empty so he got out of the vent and walked over to the computer.

He sat down in the chair and connected the computer to the one on his wrist and started up the retrieval program in order to get everything. It would take around two to ten minutes to break the encryption on all the files and another five to download them onto the Bats server.

After seven minutes the encryption was broken and the files were being downloaded. It was then that Dick heard a noise. He looked up at the door and heard two sets of footprints heading this way. He didn't have time to get back to the vent so he attached a wireless transmitter to the computer so the he could move away but the file would still download. It wasn't as fast as the direct connection as each file had to be encrypted when they were sent to the receiver in Dick's wrist.

He dived under the bed as it was closer, then the vent and waited to see who would come in. Two figures walked into the room. They wasted little time before getting on the bed. Panic struck Nightwing as he realised he would have to listen to them until they leave. It took around a half an hour for them to finish and in that time Dick had tried to think about anything bar what was happening above him.

After they left Nightwing left his hiding spot and grabbed the transmitter before leaving that floor as fast as he could. When he walked out of the building back in his civilian persona he made sure to send an anonymous tip to the police about the firm.

He made his way back to his apartment and began to shift through all the data he had received from the firm. He had gotten veritable gold mine of information including customers, addresses, monetary transactions and employee files. 'You gotta love the paranoid ones' Dick thought as he began his long search.

It took almost four hours of searching for in order to discover what he needed. Apparently the operation was a lot bigger than just one floor of a building. He discovered that Brummell's late night visitor was a gift from the mob, for what reason though was a mystery. There was however a name attached to the request.

The name was more like a title and it simply read Patron. This grabbed Dick's attention as he had never heard that name in the underworld before and he must be pretty big in order for the firm to send out their best courtesan at no charge. This alliance must be bigger than we thought if even after all this time Dick had never heard of the Patron.

Although now he knew he was going to have to find out. 'At least he can stop tailing Brummel now' he thought as he had already found the mob link. Now all he needed to do was find evidence linking it to Stanley and the alliance between the different organised crime families goes down.

It sound simple in his head but he knew it was going to be difficult. He quickly typed up a progress report and sent it to Selina before he went to sleep in order to be fully rested for the investigation tomorrow.

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**Please read and review**

**Also may not be able to update for a while due to school/work stuff.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here's chapter 3. I hope you like it**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice **

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Nightwing stared into the eyes of the drug baron hanging upside down in front of him. His eyes were full of fear and his whole body was shaking.

'Who is the Patron?' Nightwing demanded.

'I don't know who you're talking about' his voice quivering as he said it but Nightwing saw the flash of recognition in the man's eyes when he heard the name.

'You control the drug trade in the north and east part of the city. You supply the street dealers and the one per centres with drugs. You must have heard of him.'

The baron gulped. All his money wouldn't get him out of this and he knew it.

'Even if I have heard of him why should I tell you? I know your kind. You act like you're going to kill us but you won't. You prey on the lesser man's fears but I'm going to tell you something you don't scare me.'

Nightwing smirked and this mad the baron shiver in fear at the sight of it.

'Are you sure you're not scared because from where I'm standing you look just about ready to wet yourself. Also I may not kill you but I know how to drop you from this height and ensure that you survive but you become paralysed from the neck down. So let me tell you this, either you tell me what I want to know or I'll ensure you never walk again'.

It was a bluff on the part of Nightwing because if he dropped him the baron would become a pancake but the baron didn't know that.

Nightwing loosened his grip on the rope and this snapped the drug baron back into reality.

'Ok, ok I'll talk just please don't drop me'. Nightwing grabbed him and hauled him onto the safety of the rooftop.

'Talk! Now!' he growled at the man. Those words had the desired effect on the man.

'Ok the Patron is a man who sponsors the various underground activities in the city. He prevents the police from interfering if you comply but eliminates you if you don't. All he asks in return is a thirty-five per cent cut of your profits'.

'Where is his base of operations?' Nightwing asked menacingly. The man flinched in fear at the voice.

'I don't know I swear, but I do know where he'll be in two hours. There's a meeting on in at the docks in warehouse 19. All his employees will be there. That's all I know I swear. Now please let me go.'

Nightwing just smirked at the man before delivering kick to his head knocking him unconscious. Nightwing then tied up the villain. He then put the hard drive he got form the man's computer when he grabbed him into his shirt pocket. He then set a message on his computer to be sent to the police in three hours. 'Can't risk the chance of the Patron knowing I'm onto him' he thought.

He then left the rooftop and made his way to the warehouse where he kept all of his equipment. As soon as he made his way there he began to fuel his bike and grab some of the tools he would need in order to capture the Patron. He put on some coffee in order to perk himself up as he has been on patrol for the last twelve hours.

An hour before the meeting Nightwing left his warehouse and journeyed to the other warehouse just a little ways down from his own. 'this must be the first time they have used this place as a meeting point because Nightwing knew that up until recently this warehouse was a storage facility for pipe tubes for an industrial company that went belly up just over a month ago.

As he got there he parked his bike two blocks away from the warehouse he began to scope out the area. He stuck close to the shadows during his stakeouts. As the hour progressed more and more people began to arrive. They arrived inconspicuously in cheap cars or motorbikes. He recognised some of them as weapons dealers or drug barons. Also there were some public officials and high ranking police officers attending this meeting as well.

Nightwing took note of the armed guards that were taking up strategic positions around the warehouse because apparently no weapons were allowed inside. Nightwing quietly made his way up to the top of the warehouse without being seen by the guards. He couldn't take any of them out as that would alert the others. He made his way to the top of the building and began to cut a hole in one of the top windows. He did this as quickly as possible as he only had two minutes before the guard came back.

He cut out the hole just big enough so he could fit in and then slipped through it. He then fixed the window so as not to arouse suspicion. He was fortunate enough that the meeting had not started yet. He moved to the rafters and took out a small video recorder and began to record the meeting.

After two minutes two other people came into the room. One was a young man with black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black suit and a white shirt with black shoes. Everything about him screamed 'power'. From the smug look on his face to the way everyone in the room stiffened at his mere presence. He sat down and began the proceedings.

However it was his companion that drew Nightwing's attention. She was a young woman who wore a black backless dress with a slit running along its left side and a dip in the front down to the top of her cleavage. She wore an engagement ring on her left hand and was giving the male a lovelorn look.

At first glance it seemed she was arm candy but something about that impression seemed to perfect for Nightwing. Everything about her contributed to the view that she was just a pretty young thing that the boss decided to keep around and who was convinced she was in love with him. That's what gave Nightwing his first clue.

Nightwing had seen many people give that same lovelorn look to their significant others but this one looked to perfect. It looked practiced. 'It was a mask' Nightwing suddenly realised. He looked at her again. 'Yes I'm sure of it; I've seen enough masks in my life to know that that is one.

He looked at her companion and his suspicions were confirmed. The man kept looking at the woman throughout the meeting as if looking for reassurance. The looks were quick and easy to miss to the untrained eye but they were there none the less. 'So that's her game' he thought. 'Let the people believe the male is in charge so that she can secretly manipulate people from the shadows and if it does all come crashing down she can play the love sick victim manipulated by the evil male.

It was quite ingenious really'. Nightwing knew that he would have to be very careful not to underestimate her but he also knew that she would most likely keep records of everything related to her empire. He smiled at that thought. The meeting ended shortly after this revelation and Nightwing realised he hadn't been paying attention. It didn't matter though as he set up the camera for that exact reason. He sent a copy of the video to one of his contacts in the police and to the Bat Cave so that the other attendees would be brought down.

Nightwing then followed his new mark as they drove away from the warehouse. It took lot for Nightwing to keep up with them as he didn't have time to get his bike but somehow he managed. Their car stopped in front of an apartment block in the well off part of the city. 'Crap' Nightwing thought as he was about to lose her if there was more than one person in the lobby or elevator.

He took out his infrared goggles and looked at the building. He picked the Patron out as she had just entered the building. She entered the elevator that was thankfully empty. She went up to thirty eight floor. Nightwing grappled over to the roof top of the hotel. He secured his grapple to a vent on the ceiling before he slid down to her floor. He climbed onto the balcony before sliding open the door and slipping into the penthouse.

The penthouse was luxurious to say the least. The sitting room was quite big with a large flat screen TV, two leather sofas and a plush carpet. There were was a hallway leading down to the bedrooms and there was a kitchen to the left of the sitting room with an open screen hole in the middle of the wall joining the two rooms. Nightwing heard water running and assumed that it was the Patron getting ready for bed. He hoped that she would be in bed by now but it looked like he would have to wait.

He saw her laptop on the coffee table but quickly melded into the shadows as he heard footsteps coming down the hall. She was wearing nothing but a long t-shirt for Harvard as she walked into the living room. She made her way to the kitchen where she pulled out a glass. She walked over to the fridge when he saw her pause. Nightwing tensed and didn't move a muscle. The Patron then continued on and poured herself a drink. She put the drink on the counter when she suddenly turned around and flung a knife through the window between the rooms straight at Nightwing.

He rolled out of the way just in time to see the Patron holding a butchers knife in her left hand and ready to strike. She looked at him intensely as he stood up. There was no witty banter or questions as they both knew why he was here. She lunged at him with the knife trying to slice at his chest. He dodged it and jumped back from her.

She then ran towards him and threw a punch at him. Nightwing dodged but realised too late that it was a faint and she slashed the knife at him with her other hand. He grabbed her writs just in time and twisted the knife free of her hand. She kicked him in the stomach and broke free of his grasp.

She made a beeline for the knife but Nightwing grabbed her hair and yanked her down to the ground. He delivered a couple of blows to the head in order to ensure that she was unconscious. He left her sprawled out on the floor and he made his way over to her computer. He quickly hacked into it and searched for what he wanted and found nothing. Similar searches yielded the same results.

This shocked Nightwing to say the least and he began to look around the apartment for any other computers but found nothing. He sat down on the couch and began to think. 'Ok she's smart enough to make most people think she lives a normal life hence the lack of bodyguards and has even got some of Blüdhaven's top criminals fooled with her bimbo act, so where would she keep her records.

He then thought back to where he found the laptop. 'It was on the coffee table in the sitting room, not a smart place to leave it for a criminal mastermind'. Then it him, it wouldn't be on the computer as that would be the most obvious place to look. He quickly ran to her room and looked around.

He went over to the book shelf and began to look through the covers of various books. It was there that he found them. Ten journals were found in total that contained information regarding her entire operation. There were copies of shipping manifest to handwritten accounts of what was going on at the moment. He also found an address for a storage facility where he was sure he was going to find more journals.

Nightwing gathered up all the journals he had found and quickly left the room. There was no point in moving the Patron as she would know it was him as soon as she found the theft of her journals. He grappled out of the penthouse and made his way back to his warehouse.

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**Please read and review with any suggestions you may have.**

**Also I may not be able to upload for a while due to a big project I have.**


	5. Chapter 5

**OK sorry for the wait but here's chapter 5 of my story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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Nightwing stared at the handwritten words in the notebook. It was written in the notebook labelled Abigail Stanley. Nightwing had spent hours combing over every inch of the notebook memorizing each passage and then sending it to the rest of the Clan for further analysis. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the date on the twenty first page of the notebook. It was a date for a secret meeting in Washington between Stanley and her senior advisers. Apparently they were going to discuss some of their more discreet activities.

It was a perfect opportunity to gather the concrete evidence to bring down Stanley and her empire. According to the notebook the meeting was to take place in four days. Nightwing immediately sent a copy of the page to Batman and then got a reply saying there will be a meeting tomorrow in order to compile all the evidence the clan had gathered and then decide who would go to the meeting although Nightwing was pretty sure he was going.

He decided to go out into the city and sort some things out before he moved back to Gotham and became Batman. He put on his civilian clothes and walked out the door. He decided on a plan of action for the day on the walk down to his bike. It was nearly four o clock by the time he had gotten most of the major areas covered.

He had talked to a realtor about selling his flat and the movers were going to come in a few days. He had already gotten an apartment and transferred jobs to Gotham so those areas were covered and he managed to change his billing address. He sat down in one of his favorite little cafés and began to drink his coffee and began to read the paper.

As suspected there was no mention of his late night duel with the Patron just like he thought but now he also knew that every crook in the city would be now gunning for him. He continued to read and drink his coffee. He finished his paper and set it down on the table in front of him. He looked around the café and the many people coming in and out. A small smile graced his lips.

'I'm going to miss this place' he thought, and it was true. Even though it was crime ridden and full of corruption Blüdhaven was where he broke free of the shadow of the Batman and finally became his own hero, one who was worthy of becoming the Batman. He was always going to have a sentimental attachment to this place no matter what.

'How's it going stranger?' Dick's thoughts were interrupted by the familiar voice of a young black haired woman standing in front of him. She was wearing worn out, old clothes that consisted of a pair of navy jeans and a white blouse that was peeking out of her grey jacket. She looked flustered and her hair was a bit messy.

'Hey Zee, what's going on?' he motioned for her to sit down on the chair in front of him which she gladly took.

'Well we did arts and crafts today, hence the old clothes and I'm sure you can guess what happened from there'.

Dick smiled at her remark. 'So you still want to become a first grade teacher after all that'.

'Yep, I adore working with children and I don't mind working with stubborn immature people'. From the way she said that last part though Nightwing was sure she was talking about him. 'I guess she's still pissed about what happened last time we met' he thought.

'So what's going on with you?' she asked rousing him out of his thoughts.

'Well I was actually going to call you and ask you out so I could talk to you about it but I guess now is as good time as any. Given our history I felt the need to do this in person'. She looked at him curiously her interest piqued. 'I'm moving back to Gotham in two weeks' time and I probably won't be coming back to Blüdhaven any time in the near future'.

She stared at him with a blank expression on her face before she began to speak again. 'Wow, I wasn't really expecting that, but if what you say is true then all I can say is that I'll miss you when you're gone'.

'So you're not mad at me.'

'No I can't be mad at you for moving on with your life but I will be sad as I won't be able to see your familiar smirk in the city anymore.'

This was going better than Nightwing thought. There hadn't been any yelling or any visual signs that she had residual romantic feelings from their previous relationships. All of this Nightwing considered a good thing as it meant that their friendship wouldn't be complicated by the knowledge of his nightly activities.

'Well since I can't help the fact that you're moving I say we have a farewell dinner just you and me in order to celebrate your time here.'

'Just you and me, don't you think I would like some of my other friends to come.'

'Do you have any other real friends in the city?'

Dick laughed at this. She had a good point. Zatanna was his only real friend in the city while the rest were either work colleagues or acquaintances because of his connection to Bruce.

'Alright you got me there; I'll pick you up at seven but don't expect us to stay out too late, I've got a meeting at ten o'clock in the morning so I have to be up by nine.'

'Don't worry I'll get you home before your bedtime' she retorted.

They chatted for a couple of minutes before they went their separate ways. Nightwing went back to his apartment and looked over his crime notes for the next couple of hours before he decided to get ready for his impromptu going away dinner with Zatanna. He made a mental checklist of what he wanted the night to go like.

And everything did go as planned up to a certain point. He picked her up in his car, they went out to a nice restaurant, they talked and the conversation flowed freely and he dropped her home at around a quarter to ten. What he hadn't planned for was the look they gave each other at the door of her apartment. It was a look that brought back many memories for both of them of years gone by.

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Soon enough however they were no longer staring at each other but rather their lips had come crashing against each other's. They quickly went inside and shed each other of their clothes. Soon they began to make each call out their names through the night and all thoughts of the consequences quickly left their minds.

Nightwing woke up in a bed he hadn't been in a long time with a familiar black haired girl cuddled up against him. He quickly scanned his surroundings and realised where he was and what had happened. He looked around the room for his clothes but only succeeded in locating his pants and shoes. He silently moved from the bed without waking the sleeping woman and tip toed around the apartment gathering his discarded garments.

'Oh my god! How could I be so stupid? The only thing I shouldn't have done, I did' he screamed in his head.

'Although I suppose there are worse things that I could have done then slept with the woman I love'. He smiled to himself when he thought that but not a moment later it hit him.

'Oh crap, I love her', the realization hit him like one of Bane's punches. ' OK I'll sort out my feelings later, now all I have to do is get dressed leave the city and never talk to her again in order to ensure this does not happen again'. Even though the plan made him sound like a jerk the simple fact was that she was a member of the League and most Leaguers did not like the Bats ever since their refusal to join the League.

He looked around for his phone and realizes that it must be in her room. He quickly tip toes back to the room and comes face to face with Zatanna who now had a sheet draped around her body. 'Shit' was the single word that ran through Nightwing's mind at that moment.

She looked at him with a little smirk on her face, knowing that she had just caught him in the act of trying to leave while she was asleep.

'So where are you going this early in the morning?'

'I have a meeting this morning so I have to go home and get ready for it.'

'Your meeting isn't until ten' she retorted.

'Yes but it's in Gotham so I have to leave early'.

She seemed satisfied with the answer and surprisingly handed him his phone.

'Well good luck and I'll see you around' she said. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. Dick was completely shocked as he walked down to his car. He heard his phone beep and he looked at it. It was a text from Zatanna.

"I had fun last night rich boy but I think we should remain friends, call me later".

'Oh thank god'. Dick was relieved that he hadn't just screwed up his life big time because if she wanted to try again he knew he wouldn't be able to say no.

'God I lov- wait not going there again' he said as he drove home.

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**Yes I know this didn't focus on the main plot but its important for later on. **

**Please read and review of what you think and any suggestions you may have.**

**Also don't expect an update soon as my exams are coming up very quickly and I need to study.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is chapter 6 of my story. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any related characters.**

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Nightwing rode into the Bat Cave at exactly 9:47 am and parked his car next to the Batmobile. He walked up to the central computer and saw probably the most shocking thing in the universe. Batman was in full costume walking around while singing his infant daughter that he held to sleep. Nightwing couldn't believe his eyes, he instinctively reached towards the camera he had in his belt.

'Don't even think about it' the Dark Knight's cold voice startling his first protégé.

'Wouldn't even dream of it' Nightwing replied smirking at his mentor.

The Dark Knight glared at him and Dick swore he saw Helena do the same. Nightwing walked over to the giant computer and stood next to Batman as they waited for the rest of the family to arrive.

'Are you nervous about what's going to happen after this case?' Batman enquired.

'Nervous as hell' Dick replied.

'Still willing to go through with it?'

'Of course, I've been training for this my entire life and it's time you stopped sticking your neck out for the city'.

'But do you still want to do this Dick?'

'I wish I didn't have to do it but I couldn't imagine a better way to help the city.'

Batman smiled at his former sidekick as he was obviously pleased with the response. As the rest of the clan began to arrive in the cave Batman briefly went up to the mansion in order to put Helena into her crib. Red Hood and Nightwing shared a smirk with each other at the scene. When the Dark Knight came back down all the members of the clan had arrived and the meeting began.

'Now all of you have written reports on what you have discovered during your investigations and it appears are assumptions were correct. Six of Stanley's political advisors now have confirmed links to organised crime families and the other two have been dead ends. Now thanks to the information received by Nightwing we know that there will be a meeting attended by Stanley in Washington D.C. however we do not know who the meeting is with.

Although based on the recent evidence we have gathered we can assume that the agenda of the meeting will not be the upcoming election because based on recent polls she is well ahead of her rival. Usually I would only send one of you to this meeting due to the fact the city is the leagues "official" headquarters but seeing how the information we can possibly obtain is priceless I'm going to risk sending two of you.'

Everyone nodded in agreement understanding the logic of the situation. Two of the Bat Clan where going to be visiting Washington D.C the heart of the Justice Leagues support.

'Now I have decided to send Nightwing to D.C for obvious reasons along with Red Hood due to the fact those two have the necessary experience to move around the city unnoticed. You two also have previous experience working with each other. You both leave in two hours. You're dismissed.'

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As this was going on Superman and Aquaman were meeting with representatives of the White House at the Hall of Justice. They were in the one of the private rooms of the Hall that were generally used as a break room and where seated at a one of the tables there.

'Gentlemen it is good to see you but I have to ask you why are here?' enquired the King of Atlantis.

'Well you see gentlemen as you know that the presidential elections are going to be held in a couple of weeks and there is going to be one more debate before the election date.'

'Yes we know all that' responded the Man of Steel.

'Yes of course but what you don't know is that recently we have been getting reports from the Stanley camp that some of her advisors are being followed. We have also gotten some reports that her rival was tailed as well.'

'So what do you want us to do about this assuming that you have a lead on the perpetrators?' questioned Aquaman.

'No, we don't have anything yet but if this ever came to light even if it was only a rumour it would throw the entire election and the country into confusion. So what we are asking you is there any chance of us having the debate in the Hall of Justice. We would have both candidates set up shop in different conference rooms and have the debate in the entrance lobby of the Hall.'

Superman and Aquaman looked at each other quizzically. They didn't know what to do. If they refused they would essentially be going against a direct order of the President who had become more interested in the Bat Clan since they helped defeat the Light and even though he was an outgoing president it could mean trouble for the League. On the other hand however if they said yes they could risk exposing the fact that this was not the Leagues true headquarters. The two men came to a silent agreement.

'We will gladly help but on a few conditions' Superman finally replied. 'One, the two groups must stay in the conference room all day until the debate where everyone must exit the room and will not be able to return at. They will not be monitored in respect to their privacy but all the incoming personnel will be given a security check. They will all be escorted during their stay in the building'.

'Thank you gentlemen the debate will be rescheduled to take place four days from now. We'll make the announcement tomorrow.'

'Good we can have everything ready for the two camps by nine o'clock so I suggest they arrive then. The debate can take place at seven thirty p.m.' Aquaman finished.

The two officials thanked the men and left the room. The two League members looked at each other and knew that they had a lot of work to do in the next three days.

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A little while later while speeding down the highway heading to D.C on motorbikes Nightwing and Red Hood had just received some troubling news, the meeting that they were going to scope out had just been moved to the Hall of Justice. This would make eavesdropping on the meeting nigh impossible.

'I'll tell you one thing' Jason's said over the communicator in their helmets. 'This woman is a freaking genius. As soon as we find out that she has a meeting that could put cost her everything and she moves it to the Hall of Justice.'

'The Patron must have told her about me taking the journal and she must have figured that we would discover her empire so she spins a tale in order to move the meeting to the one place that we can't break into and what's even worse is that the added personnel means that there will be increased League presence in the building.'

'It'll be difficult that's for sure but we have done things way harder than this like take down the Court of Owls.'

'Since when did you get so optimistic Hood last I checked you were the one who shot down the optimists. Is there something you're not telling me?'

'I have no idea what you mean?

Nightwing smirked inside his helmet and decided to drop the subject entirely although he figured that the change had something to do with his partner on the observation mission. The two bikes sped down the highway until they reached the city two hours later. They booked a motel room under an alias. They brought out all the information they had on the Hall of Justice and for the next four hours they began to plan on how to best infiltrate the Hall.

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**Please Read and Review**

**Also again I will not be able to determine the next time i'll be able to update.**

**I have exams and stuff.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here is Chapter 7, only a few more to go**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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It was the night before the debate and Nightwing was perched on a rooftop looking at the domed building that was supposed to be the League's headquarters but was nothing more than a glorified tourist centre. Although Nightwing did have to give the League some credit, they had managed to keep the Watchtower a secret from the public for this long.

He was looking at all the arrivals to the Hall, trying to get a sense of who would be accompanying Stanley to her meeting before the debate. He would only have a small window to see who would be attending the meeting before he had to concentrate on slipping inside the Hall.

However his stakeout was a bust as hardly anyone arrived at the hall except for the occasional Leaguer. Nightwing sighed 'were just going to have to go in blind then' he thought. He looked at the entrance to the hall one last time and saw no new arrivals of great significance. He decided to retire early and he made his way back to the motel.

He entered his room having changed into his civilian clothes on the way to the room and found Jason double checking all his equipment for the operation tomorrow. He gave him a brief hello and began to also check his equipment.

The next day the two bats left their motel at exactly six o'clock in order to enact their plan. Jason disguised himself in order to look exactly like one of the delivery men who had unfortunately taken a drug that would leave him unconscious until tomorrow. Jason quickly got into the truck and drove to the Hall of Justice.

At the entrance he was greeted by Black Lightning and his protégé Static Shock. They gave him and his cargo a brief EMP pulse in order to short out any electronic devices he may have hidden on his person or in his cargo. All the drivers were warned about this beforehand so they would know not to bring any personal electronics into the building.

Jason was instructed by Lightning on the exact route he should take to the conference room. His cargo was a bunch of boxes that contained files for Stanley's meeting but they only had to do with political statistics and other subjects that didn't concern Hood. He walked to the allocated conference room and quickly dropped of his box of files. He repeated this journey three more times until all the boxes were in the conference room.

When the last box was delivered he opened them one of the boxes up and removed a small microphone and video recorder. During the drive over to the Hall Jason had opened up one of the boxes and insulated it with a special material designed by Red Robin and Spoiler in order to protect the equipment from EMP pulses. He placed the equipment in one of the top corners of the room and covered it with a material that was transparent on one side but opaque on the other.

Jason left the room as calmly as he entered it and walked right out of the Hall. He got back into his truck and drove back to the company. From there he slipped out of his disguise and mad his way back to the motel. Nightwing had already left as he made his way to his laptop. He pulled up the video feed and readied his facial recognition programme and he also brought up other applications in order to help him run background checks on those who would be attending the meeting.

Meanwhile Dick was sitting at a café that was only a block away from the Hall of Justice with his own laptop open and with headphones on. He was typing away at his laptop while drinking a cup of coffee. If anyone saw him they would just assume he was a writer. Furthermore in order to make sure no one interrupted him he wore a wedding ring on his left hand so no woman or man would try and hit on him. It has happened on occasion.

Nightwing sat back in his chair and waited for the occupants to enter the room and begin the meeting. He wished he could do this from the safety of his motel room but if they boosted the signal of the device so it could reach the room they ran the risk of it being detected. He was waiting for a couple of hours before the meeting had begun. In that time he wrote up his reports on the mission so far and checked up on his friends and family.

The major thing he learned from his check-up was that Wally and Artemis had gotten engaged. This put a smile on Nightwing's face as he could only imagine Green Arrow's reaction to the news and he couldn't help but laugh at the probable guest list. 'Oh this is going to be good' he thought.

His joyful thoughts were interrupted by someone arriving in the conference room. He brought up the video feed on his laptop and immediately recognised the woman inside. It was Abigail Stanley. 'Time to go to work' he thought.

Stanley sighed as she entered the room. Things were not going well for her, she had recently discovered that someone had kept a recording of one of her recruitment pitches but before she could do anything the Bat had broken up the ring and by the looks of it taken the recording of the conversation. She was basing this theory on the fact that the seemingly unknown Patron was discovered a few days after the theft of the recording.

It may have just been a coincidence but she could take no chances. She took her seat and waited for her lieutenants to enter the room and for the meeting to begin. While she waited the ten minutes it took for them to arrive she tried to formulate a plan on how to deal with this menace to her operation. When they finally arrived the meeting began. Stanley stood up and began to address them all.

'As you all know recently we have experienced some problems in regards to our operation's local operators. Over the last couple of days six major crime families have either been crippled or taken out completely. Furthermore all of them work for us and what's even worse is that most of them kept records of our dealings to act as a failsafe. The fact that they have records does not concern me but the fact that the Bats are responsible for their downfall does.

I have reason to believe that the Bats have stumbled onto our operation and pose an immediate threat to our organisation. Now I know most of you think we shouldn't be worried but the Bats are not like the League, as soon as they see a new target they do not rest until they are brought down. Also since they don't have superpowers they don't have and super weaknesses either.

They are also quite adept in defeating super villains and that is the truth because you all know what Gotham is like. Now since I cannot oversee the destruction of the Clan myself due to the election so I am appointing Brummel as the head of this operation. Is that understood?'

Everyone in the room nodded their heads.

'Now Brummell I am appointing you because you have seen the way the Bats operate during the Light fiasco. However I warn you do not underestimate them. Now that that's finished I can move onto our second item for today. This also concerns the safety of our operation but it can be dealt with easily. Our operation in Gotham has been hindered as of late by someone besides Batman. Now we all know who this person is and I have already contacted the League of Shadows and they have assured me that their best people are on the job.

Now unless there is any other business that we need to discuss I call this meeting to an end and suggest that all of you get back to your pre assigned tasks and Brummell I suggest you start your mission right away. All of our resources not assigned to the campaign are yours to use. Dismissed.'

After that statement all the lieutenants stood up and left the room. Stanley was still in her seat while she waited for her next meeting to begin. When it did finally begin it was clear from the start to Nightwing that this was a purely political meeting and they would not gain any other information from it. Although Nightwing decided to continue recording the conversation and have someone back at the cave monitor it.

Nightwing sat back in his chair and sighed. He had been typing up the important points of the conversation. The thing with Brummell would need to be investigated but it didn't cause a lot of concern for Nightwing. What did concern him though was this other person Stanley had apparently ticked off in Gotham. This could be either a godsend or a recipe for disaster but it was most likely the latter because anything from Gotham that required this kind of attention is always bad.

Nightwing closed up his laptop and left the diner. He went back to the motel and decided to rest up until the debate. Nightwing and Hood both decided to attend the debate as well in case of the off chance they would notice anything suspicious. There probably wouldn't be any criminal activity but it couldn't hurt to try.

At exactly seven pm the debate started in the lobby of the Hall of Justice. Jason was attending as a civilian while Nightwing monitored the situation from outside the Hall. As expected though during the course of the debate there were no indications of anything criminal from Stanley who in fact clearly won the debate as she outmanoeuvred her rival at every question. This proved to Nightwing that she was going to win the election and if she did it would be near impossible to prosecute.

They needed hard evidence of her guilt but they only had circumstantial evidence at best. What they had acquired so far would only cost her the election at most. It would do nothing in regards to bringing down her empire. Nightwing sighed for the umpteenth time that day. This was going to be harder than the Clan thought it would be. He activated the remote self-destruct for the equipment in the Hall so that no trace would be left of their infiltration and was about to leave until he noticed something.

Nightwing saw that Stanley was leaving the Hall and was about to enter her limo. He decided to follow her and see where she was saying to they could bug her home in the future. He quickly grappled up to the rooftops and began to follow the limo from above. They were about ten blocks away from the Hall when it happened.

A white van advertising clowns for hire suddenly collided with the limo. It came out from one of the alleyways in the city. Three men all wearing clown masks and carrying silenced ak47's got out from the back of the van and made their way towards the limo. Two of Stanley's guards got out of the limo but they were immediately shot dead. By this time Nightwing had seen enough.

He immediately swung into action. He threw two wing-dings at two of the men making them drop their weapons while he kicked the third to the ground taking him out of the equation for now. The other two quickly recovered and charged Nightwing. They both wielded knives and one of them slashed at Nightwing's torso. Nightwing grabbed the man's wrist and kicked the other thug in the chest.

He twisted the wrist of the man with the knife, bringing him to his knees. He quickly delivered a blow to the head of the man knocking him out. He was about to go after the other too but someone grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. As soon as Nightwing did a full 180 he was met with a green gas blown into his face.

Instantly he became woozy and started to fall to his knees. His vision blurred and just before he lost consciousness fully he was heard a sound that haunted his worst nightmares. That familiar maniacal laughter rang out loudly.

'What's the matter bird boy, feeling a bit down but as you know laughter is the best medicine' and with that another bout of laughter rang out and Nightwing slipped into unconsciousness.

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**Please Read and Review.**

**Again I may not be able to update for a while due to study and other stuff.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here is chapter 8**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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Nightwing slowly came to in unfamiliar surroundings. He waited for a few minutes in order for his vision to clear. As soon as it did he scanned the room in order to see where he was. He looked around and saw that he was in what used to be a bathroom. Each wall including the floor where covered with white tiles that had become dirty and stained due to probably years of neglect. The ceiling was grey and had looked to be made of concrete. There were three rows of lights that hung from the ceiling illuminating the room.

He was sitting on a hard wooden chair with no obvious bonds holding him into place. He tried to move but found that he couldn't. He tentatively tried to move every part of his body one at a time and found that he couldn't move his arms, legs of his lower body. His head was free so he tried to angle it in order to get a better view of what was holding him in place.

He tilted his head to the side and managed to get a look under his right arm. What he saw both shocked and amazed him. There underneath his arm was a line of dried superglue. Nightwing would recognise glue anywhere from his younger prankster days. So that would mean that his arms are glued to the arm rest, his legs are glued to the chair legs and his ass is glued to the seat as well. He also couldn't move his feet so he had to assume that they were glued to the floor as well.

'So you used industrial strength glue so we can't possibly escape on our own' thought Nightwing 'that's smart'. Now that he had gauged how bad his situation was he decided to examine this room more thoroughly. His eyes were immediately drawn to the unconscious figure seated beside him in a similar situation. It was Stanley. She was still wearing the black business suit she wore at the debate but it was now torn in some places and there was blood now on her face. Apparently she didn't escape the accident unharmed. Nightwing knew he couldn't do anything right now so he would have to wait.

* * *

The accident was discovered ten minutes after Nightwing was abducted. It was discovered by one of the news crews that were covering the debate and they immediately recognised the banged up limo. They immediately called it in and right now the area was cordoned off by the police while the Justice League examined the area. Black Lightning was combing the limo looking for any foreign electrical items while Black Canary consulted with the officers about tracing the origin of the bullets and the two Wing-Dings they found.

Zatanna was in the middle of the road preparing a spell that would show them what had happened. It wouldn't show them who was involved but it would give them a lead in the right direction.

'Everyone' Zatanna announced 'I'm ready to begin'.

Immediately everyone went behind the police barrier and the scene was now clear of people bar Zatanna. The press got ready to film this as they were already familiar with the Leagues method of investigation and the League let them saying it showed the bad guys that they couldn't hide anything from the League.

_'Wohs em tahw deneppah ereh' _she recited and immediately shadowy figures began to appear on the street representing the different aspects of the ambush. The people watching it gasped when the three thugs brutally shot the men but they were not prepared for the intervention of a vigilante and for him to be taken out by figure that appeared to be laughing. After that the laughing figure apparently told the others to stuff Stanley and the vigilante in the van and the van drove off in a northerly direction.

The bystanders just stood there unable to comprehend what had just happened. Black Canary was the first to snap out of her shock and began to order that someone be sent to scan the area the van was heading to. Three police vans were dispatched along with the Flash and Impulse and started to search the area.

Red Hood stood on a nearby rooftop watching the scene, shock and fear filling his system. Even though he couldn't see the identity of the figure he would recognise that laugh anywhere having it haunt his nightmare regularly. He brought his trembling hand to his communicator.

'Batman, we have a problem the Joker is back and he has kidnapped Stanley and Nightwing'.

Red Hood received no reply immediately and that was understandable because Batman had just received some disturbing and shocking news.

'Understood' he replied his voice seemingly cold and distant but Hood knew it was an act. Batman was worried. 'Return to the cave immediately for a full meeting'. With that sentence Batman terminated the connection. Hood sighed. His hand was still trembling. Memories of a warehouse and a crowbar came flooding back to him. He uncontrollably shivered at the memories.

'Something the matter Hood' a voice said behind him. Hood cursed, he had been so entranced by the fact that the Joker was back and had just kidnapped his brother that he completely let his guard down. He slowly turned around and was greeted with the familiar sight of a red and blue covered hero with an S emblazoned on his chest.

'Superman' Hood replied.

'So I am only going to ask you once, tell me right now why two Bats are in D.C and more importantly why where you following Stanley.'

'You're a smart guy, you figure it out. Now if you'll excuse me I have some place to be but I will offer you some advice, when you're looking into this don't underestimate the Joker and don't take Stanley at face value.'

With that Hood began to make his way of the roof. When he reached the edge he looked back suspiciously at the Man of Steel.

'So you're just going to let me go?' he asked suspiciously.

'Why not' he replied 'you answered both my questions'.

Hood smirked underneath his helmet and left the rooftops. Superman also left quickly in order to inform the rest of the League what he had learned.

* * *

Meanwhile back at the room Stanley was just coming too. Nightwing glanced at her wondering what her reaction would be to the situation. He didn't have to wait too long because as soon as she came to, she began to panic. She started screaming a barrage of threats, pleas and insults at her unknown captors and when she saw Nightwing seemingly just sitting there she yelled at him to help her but she didn't know he could not move.

'Will you please shut up with your incessant whining you bitch!' shouted an unknown figure. Stanley ceased her rampage and both she and Nightwing turned to face the figure that had entered the room. It was Harley Quinn.

'Please will you shut up, your loud noises are hurting Mister J's ears and he's in the other room'.

Stanley was about to talk back to Quinn but as soon as she opened her mouth she was slapped across the face by Quinn.

'Don't even talk you bitch, the only sounds Mister J wants to hear out of your mouth is the sound of your screams as he exacts payback'.

Stanley's eyes bulged at the thought of what this madman would do to her. She looked over at Nightwing who continued to bear a cold and serious look on his face as he stared at Quinn.

'Now as for you bird boy Mister J hasn't decided what to do with you yet but I do think it will be spectacular'.

Nightwing's calm and cold demeanour never left him but at that moment he was shking terribly inside because he knew first-hand what the Joker could do to you. He hoped that he would die before he broke or someone came and rescued him before he broke out the big guns.

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**Sorry for the short chapter, the next one will be longer.**

**There are two chapters remaining in this story.**

**Please Read and Review**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here is chapter 9 sorry for the long delay.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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'Lady and gentleman welcome to the Jokers house of wonderment, where you will be amazed, shocked and completely horrified that you will feel like tearing your own eyes out but don't worry we will do that for you'.

Nightwing and Stanley just sat there in silence as the Joker wheeled his shopping cart full of horrors into the room. He was wearing a white lab coat and surgical gloves. He stopped at the table that had been set up in the middle room earlier. He began to layout various tools on the table including tweezers, electrodes, pliers, clamps and other tools for poking and prodding whilst inflicting as much pain as possible.

The Joker turned around and faced his two prisoners. He gave them his signature grin and spread his arms wide revealing a vast selection of knives under his lad coat. Stanely's eyes widened in terror at the prospect but Nightiwng's face remained an emotionless mask as he never broke eye contact with the Joker.

'What do I have something on my face?' he asked in response to their stares.

Neither of them responded to his question and he just shrugged and began to remove the knives from his jacket and place them on the table. Nightwing looked over at Stanley who appeared to be on the verge of bursting into tears. 'She's going to break easily' Nightwing thought 'that's going to be bad because he won't get any enjoyment from her and will kill her sooner'.

The Joker had finally finished off laying each tool on the table. He turned to them and opened his arms wide. His mouth curved into his signature sick, twisted smile. He looked at them playfully.

'So kiddies who wants to take Mr J's magical ride into the horrors that is my wondrous and beautiful imagination?'

His question was met by unanswered silence from both of his captives.

'No volunteers then, fine, eenie, meanie, miney mow catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go eenie meanie miney mow'. His finger landed on Stanley. He smiled and seemed particularly pleased with this outcome. He picked up a knife and began striding across the floor to Stanley.

Stanley's eyes widened in terror and tears started to fall down her cheeks. She began to plead for her life, begging the Joker to stop and promising him anything he wants if he let her go. Her pleas fell on deaf ears though as the Joker was undeterred. He stopped in front of her and was about to draw the knife across her skin.

'Stop!' Nightwing cried out.

Both of the other occupants of the room looked at him curiously.

'I can't just sit ideally by and let some poor weak woman get tortured and killed knowing that I could have done something to spar her at least momentarily. So Joker, start with me, I'm sure you'll be able to get more creative than just beating me with a crowbar'.

'Well how very noble and courageous of you bird boy, it's despicable. Well no matter since you volunteered I can test some new methods of torture on you now so that there perfect for Miss Stanley when her turn comes'.

'Don't think I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart, I know that my chance of rescue is less than 5% so if I get this out of the way sooner rather than later I won't have to watch you torture a helpless victim, even though she's the farthest thing from innocent'.

'No matter the reasons however I always do enjoy the chance break a bat, now bird boy let's get this party started'. With that sentence the Joker slashed his knife across Nightwing's left forearm. He did this again and again until Nightwing's entire arm covered in cuts. His suit did little to prevent the knife's incision. Throughout the entire process Nightwing only grunted in pain at this, he would not give the Joker the satisfaction of hearing him scream just yet.

The Joker had finally finished with Nightwing's arm and had replaced his knife with a pair of electrodes that were hooked up to a car battery, he then jabbed them instantly into Nighwing's chest and this finally made him scream out in pain as the electricity coursed through his body. Stanley could only stare at the horrific sight beside her as the Joker reeled his head back in laughter.

* * *

Batman continued to stare at the screen in front of him. He had been sitting in front of the screen ever since the news that the Joker had taken Nightwing had come to light. That had been two days ago and Batman had not eaten or slept since then. He was constantly searching for any clue or anything that may lead to his location. The other members of the clan were out scouring D.C for any sign of the Joker or his affiliates.

Selina was worried about him and there wasn't anything she could do about it as she watched him sit at the monitor. She loved Dick like a son and she knew him from the first time he became Robin. She wished she could say something to Bruce but she didn't know what words would comfort a father when his oldest son was in the hands or the world's evilest man. She prayed that they would find a lead soon or she feared that Bruce would work himself death and there would be two dead Bats.

Suddenly there was a blinking light on their screen, someone was contacting them. Batman opened up the communication link and Batgirl appeared on the screen.

'Batman you need to see this video. It was posted online about a half hour ago. I'm sending you the link now'.

Batman immediately clicked on the link and it opened up a window. On the screen a video appeared. Batman enlarged the video to a full screen. He clicked play and immediately to people who were sitting in chairs. One was visually tied to the chair while the other was sitting straight up in the chair but was covered in cuts, blood and bruises. It was Nightwing.

The other one, Stanley was obviously scared out of her mind as tears where streaming down her face, all her previous confidence and poise completely gone. However Nightwing was a picture of neutrality. He may have been bloodied and bruised but it seemed that he didn't seem to notice in the slightest. He was staring intently at someone of screen.

'Now go ahead, Miss Stanley, tell these nice people at home what a bad girl you have been' cackled the Joker of screen.

Stanley was about to open her mouth to speak when surprisingly Nightwing interjected.

'Don't answer that. This is nothing but a kangaroo court and you're going to confess to your crimes in front of a judge and jury, not this madman and his deranged girlfriend'.

The Joker suddenly burst out laughing.

'Oh bird boy, that's just what I'd expect from a bat. But however it's not your turn to speak so you're going to have to shut up now'.

Suddenly a surge of electricity went through Nightwing's body causing him to cry out in pain. Everybody watched in horror as Nightwing's body twitched and contorted in pain. It continued for about a half a minute until finally Nightwing's body had stopped twitching. However once it was over Nightwing just looked off screen and smirked at the clown prince of crime his face going back into the cold mask.

As soon as this happened the Joker burst out laughing one again.

'Oh, your mentor taught you well bird boy, so you're not going to give me the pleasure of begging for death are you. No matter we'll soon resolve that. Tune in tomorrow viewers and see if the bat can hold up for another day'.

With that sentence the video ended with the Joker's laughter ringing out. Batman just stared at the screen.

'Selena'. Selena was immediately shaken from her state of shock.

'Yes, Bruce'.

'I need you to call Robin, Batgirl and Red Robin and get them to start analysing and tracking this video immediately. Also tell Spoiler, Batwoman and Black Bat to start scouring the known crime lords in Gotham in order to see if they know anything and tell Red Hood to start getting ready for a trip with me to D.C.'

'Why are you going to D.C?' Selena enquired.

'I am going to request assistance from the League in order to capture the Joker. He knows me too well and knows that I am usually too proud to ask for help from anyone but if I do seek outside help then he will be taken by surprise. I am leaving in two hours'.

He was about to leave when Selina grabbed his arms.

'Just promise me you'll come home safe and bring back Dick with you'.

'I'll try' he promised.

* * *

Superman was flying around the city doing a reconnaissance sweep. However there was nothing really going on, it appears that everyone was still in shock at the Jokers video release of torturing Nightwing and of him not giving the Joker an inch. He still couldn't understand what would drive a man to commit such acts on another human being and how could a man withstand such punishment for long because it was obvious there was more going on than what the Joker was showing them.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the sight of the Mistress of Magic standing on a rooftop, deep in thought. He set himself down on the same rooftop waking her from her thoughts.

'So what are you thinking about?' the man of steel asked Zatanna.

'I've been thinking about what's been going on recently. I mean how could we not see that Stanley was crooked; I mean are we really that gullible'.

'I don't think were gullible, we just have a tendency to try and see the best in everybody that sometimes we miss something, it was one the reasons why I wanted the Bats to join the League, they suspect everyone and never take anyone at face value'.

'Well if you want me to join so badly then if you help me now then I will certainly consider joining if you help me find Nightwing and capture' said a deep voice from the darkness.

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**Please read and review.**

**Sorry, for the delay but don't expect an update soon but I will try.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here is chapter 10 of the story, the second last chapter.**

**Again sorry for the delay but I've had exams and work experience.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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The Dark Knight sat on the rooftop across from a bomb shelter situated on the outskirts of Metropolis. He looked through his binoculars and as he had suspected there were no heat signatures in the building. He radioed Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter that the area was clear and that they were to proceed into the building with caution. They began to enter the building with Batman watching them from afar. This was the third bomb shelter they had checked in the city.

Based on the information gotten by the members of the clan staying in Gotham, the Joker was attacked approximately one week before the kidnappings. So he couldn't have built a shelter that would be able to shield both the hostages from Superman's x-ray vision so the only logical explanation as to where the Joker may be would be the abandoned underground bomb shelters built during the Cold War for fear of a nuclear attack.

Once Batman had gotten access to the Leagues mainframe he had immediately pulled up all the information on the underground bomb shelters throughout the city. There were five in the area that the Joker drove to. Each shelter was lead lined and there was no telling what kind of modifications that the Joker has made to each of them.

Progress was slow as Batman had insisted that each of the shelters be thoroughly examined by him personally. This was met with a bit of doubt by the League but once the Dark Knight explained his reasons they all stayed quiet. Red Hood got a great laugh out of their reaction. The Dark Knight reasoning was simple; the Joker would never come into D.C without having the weaknesses of every single League member ready in the wings.

This was met by disbelief from the League until Batman pointed out that they do not know the Joker like he is but the one thing they should know is that he is of equal intelligence of the Batman and the Batman was able to deduce their weaknesses. As soon as that little nugget was revealed there was aura of fear now whenever one of the League members were around the Dark Knight. This suited the Dark Knight just fine.

The detective was soon roused from his thoughts by the voice of Green Lantern in his ear, he refused to allow the Martian into his head to establish a mind link as it involved letting him into his mind.

'Yo, Bats there's nothing it seems the area is clear so if you want to conduct your detective business you might want to do it now'.

Batman sighed, 'this was going to be a long night' he thought.

He was about to grapple over to the other side when Martian Manhunter's voice suddenly filled his ear.

'Batman I'm picking some strange thoughts. They keep repeating the numbers 6743005. Do those numbers mean anything to you?'

Batman stopped in his tracks, those were Nightwing's identification numbers. He had drilled them into his mind as soon as became Robin. 'He must have figured out what I would do. That kid was becoming more like me every day let's hope he is ok' he thought.

'Manhunter, Lantern. Do not proceed any further until I get there, there is a strong possibility that the Joker is in that building, do not move'.

'Are you sure Bats, there seems to be no one here-'. The transmission cut short right there.

'Crap'

Red Hood was sitting in front of the monitor impatiently waiting for an update from Batman. He wished he could do more but with his hatred towards the Joker for what he did to him it would lead him to make a mistake and against the Clown Prince of crime a mistake can be fatal.

He was sitting in a monitor room of the Hall of Justice. It was an underground room the League used for meetings while the Watchtower was still being constructed it was only a temporary room but was re-opened because the League didn't want to reveal their real headquarters to the Clan. 'As if we already didn't know' he thought.

He was being watched by Black Canary and the Flash. He supposed they were a good choice in case he decided to hack their database and make a run for it. He smirked inside his helmet at that thought. 'As if they could stop me' he thought. Suddenly a familiar voice came into his ear.

'Hood come in, I need you to meet me at warehouse number three, we've found the Joker but he has booby trapped the place and has already taken out Manhunter and Lantern. Tell the League to wait outside while we take on the Joker'.

'Rodger that Batman, I'm on my way'

Hood relayed the instructions to the other Leaguers and before they had a chance to react he was on his bike riding towards the warehouse. 'Hang on Dick, we're coming for you'.

Nightwing was bleeding profusely; the Joker had been cutting his left leg when an alarm came on. This obviously shocked the Joke so much that he accidently cut deeper then he wanted too causing blood to come rushing out. The Joker simply laughed when he realised his mistake and he just left the vigilante while he went to see what was wrong.

When he came back he was really angry and began punching Nightwing across the face repeatedly, this continued on for a few minutes leaving Nightwing with severe swelling on either side of his face. There was blood on the Joker's gloves as a result. As this was going on Stanley just sat there watching this madman mercilessly pound this vigilante and he barely made a sound in response, never giving the Joker the pleasure of hearing him scream.

This horrible beating continued on for what seemed like forever until a muffled sound came from under the floor. Time seemed to stop as the floor at the left end of the room began to crack and give way. There was a loud crash as a huge hole opened up in the ground creating a cloud of smoke. Two figures suddenly rose up out of the smoke, landing just outside the hole. The dust cleared and there standing was Batman and Red Hood.

'You two, how did you get here?' the Joker demanded 'I would have seen you on the cameras I posted at every entrance'.

It was at that moment that the smell of human waste began to make itself known to the occupants of the room. The captives and their tormentor all cringed as the putrid stench wormed its way up their noses.

'Darn, all that planning only to be beaten by a sewage pipe'.

That was the sentence that shattered the tension that was building in the room. Immediately Harley Quinn burst into the room wielding a bloodied machete. She was followed by a dozen similarly armed thugs. Guns were useless here as the bullet would most likely ricochet in the small space and hit anyone.

The thugs immediately went straight to the two clan members, completely ignoring the two beings bound to the chairs. Batman and Red Hood got into a stance and prepared to fight however one look at Nightwing told them that this needed to be a quick fight. Batman leaped over the oncoming horde of thugs and ran towards the Joker and Quinn who was tending to her deranged lover.

Before either of them knew what was happening Batman had slammed his elbow into Quinn's jaw instantly making her crumble. He then turned to the Joker who shot a cloud of as at him from his wrist. Batman stepped back dodging the cloud of gas and barely dodging the knife the Joker tried to slash across his chest. The Joker then tried again but the Dark Knight grabbed his arm and twisted it causing the Clown Prince of crime to drop his knife.

Batman then delivered a straight to the Joker's face and then a punch to his stomach but the Joker only laughed in response to this. Batman continued to punch the clown in the face until he had collapsed onto the floor. Even then he continued to laugh as blood poured down his face until one last kick to the head from Batman had silenced him.

Batman stood over the unconscious body of his greatest foe wondering how he was going to keep him locked up for good. He was determined to keep the Joker behind bars for good this time before he retired the mask and gave it to Dick. 'Dick'. His thoughts immediately turned to his protégé.

He ran over to the chair where Nightwing was bound only to find him unconscious with his head down and blood still pouring from his wounds. Hood had just finished the last of the thugs and ran over to help. However there was little they could do, the chair and its captive where firmly secured with no means available to release them in time and they couldn't even properly bandage his wounds from this position.

'This is bad' said the Dark Knight.

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**I will try and get this story finished within the week but do not hold your breath.**

**As always please read and review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here is the end, sorry it is so short but I couldn't think of any more to write.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

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'It has been one month since the events with the Joker and the landscape of the American country has changed dramatically. When news broke that one of the presidential candidates was the head of a large crime syndicate riots broke out across the country and it took two weeks for the whole situation to be brought under control. In regards to the election Stanley's opponent won the race although he was given a rigorous background check.

There was also wide spread discontent at the League for not discovering this link sooner but the League managed to assuage those fears by saying the real people who discovered the links were currently considering membership of the League. The first Batman was currently negotiating the terms in which the clan would join the League. Even when he has retired from active duty he couldn't stay out of the action although no-one argued with the fact that he was the negotiator.

The rest of the Clan went back to their perspective cities and homes with Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman and the new Batman staying in Gotham. Red Hood became the guardian of Blüdhaven although Black Bat was known to help him from time to time. Red Robin and Spoiler went back to university that started up again in September.

The Joker and Quinn and all their thugs were throw into Belle Reve prison after the Joker was deemed a lost cause by the U.S government. He was given his own corridor in the prison with armed guards patrolling the corridor 24/7. Quinn and her thugs were thrown into Arkham Asylum in the hopes that they will stay there.'

'Ding dong'.

Nightwing was broken from his thoughts by his bell ringing. He wondered who was coming to see him at his new apartment in Gotham. He had refused to go back to living in the mansion after he became Batman but surprisingly Bruce understood and gave him a list of apartments available in the city. Nightwing was very happy that Bruce had understood.

He walked over to the buzzer and pressed the button to open the door on the ground floor.

'It's open' he said into the speaker.

No one responded to the voice and this little fact piqued his curiosity because it meant that this visit was of a serious nature. His eyes drifted towards his arms that were still covered in bandages. His mind immediately flashed back to the Joker cutting his arm but he immediately shook it off. 'Everything worked out in the end, what are a few cuts and scrapes for the imprisonment of the world's most evil man'.

Although he had to admit there were a few times when he was being brought to the hospital that there were a couple of times where he thought he wouldn't make it, especially when he saw the field of flowers during one of his blackout stages.

Nightwing was still trying to make sense on how exactly he got out of that mess. According to Batman there was no way they could have found a solvent for the glue in time but it was at that moment when two league members appeared. It was at that moment that both Superman and the Flash chose to arrive. Apparently the Flash rushed over to Nightwing when he saw what was happening.

After a quick consultation with Batman the Flash managed to vibrate the wounded vigilante out of the chair without ripping of his skin. He then rushed the wounded vigilante to the nearest hospital but not before getting a stern warning from the Dark Knight regarding his protégé's mask and DNA.

After the Scarlet Speedster had rushed Nightwing to the hospital, the Man of Steel apparently stuck around to discuss with the Batman his deal about joining the League although the Man of Steel was not prepared for the bombshell that the original Batman was going to retire at the conclusion of this case. This caused some problems but the Batman assured the Man of Steel that they were still willing to join the League under some conditions.

Dick didn't know how he felt about this situation but he could see the advantages of working with a government approved organisation. One big point is that all their contacts in the police wouldn't have to hide the fact that they knew them. This would certainly speed up their investigations into different crimes.

He heard a knock at his door and he began to walk over to it. 'So let's recap, the Joker is in jail, hopefully for good, I am now the new Batman which has been going pretty well since I got out of the hospital and League and Clan relations are getting better with the prospect of the Clan and League merging together'.

He opened the door but the person standing in front of him surprised him. It was Zatanna and she looked pretty upset. Her eyes were red and puffy and her hair looked messy.

'Zatanna is something wrong you look like you've been crying recently?' Dick asked with concern lacing his voice.

'Dick, there is something I have to tell you, I'm pregnant and it's yours'.

'Crap why does nothing ever go to plan' he exclaimed inside his head.

**THE END**

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**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and I apologize for my sporadic updates.**


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